A biography for John Ashcrofthasn’t been written yet.
“The worst mistake a boss can make is not to say 'well done'.”
“We've got to understand that the whole nature of the way American democracy guards its freedom has been changed.”
“The new rule says that the FBI has the right to go to public places on the same terms and conditions as other members of the public for counter-terrorism purposes.”
“We need to strengthen our analytic capacity in Washington, we need to centralize the anti-terrorism effort.”
“It's a different world.”
“Prior to September 11, we thought the world beyond our shores was one world of risk and the world in our continent was another world of risk.”
“The FBI has long been a part of the security for the nation's banks because bank robberies have been a priority.”
“All of us want to have meaning in our lives and want to feel like we're doing something that makes a difference. I believe we're doing that in the Justice Department.”
“What we learned on September 11 is that the unthinkable is now thinkable in the world.”
“Reasonable regulations regarding the ownership of weapons are appropriate.”
“Agents need to be free to pursue investigations in ways that they haven't. There have been restraints that a reformed FBI needs to make sure we don't impose.”
“The Internet provides very serious challenges to our ability to keep from children the kinds of things that are destructive to them.”
“I don't play full court anymore. I just play half-court.”
“An FBI agent ought to be able to surf the net and look for sites that instruct people how to make bombs.”
“People who commit crimes should be responsible for those crimes. It doesn't matter whether they're priests or ministers or atheists.”
“There is no priority higher than the prevention of terrorism.”
“The liberties and freedoms which we hold dear and we recognize and cherish and respect guide the way we gather information in the United States.”
“We have to think outside the box, inside the Constitution, find ways to do things that will elevate our security, reduce the risk of the incidence of terrorist attack.”
“The path we have chosen is constitutional.”
“Nothing that we have authorized conflicts with any law regarding privacy or any provision of the constitution.”